Rise of Rurik

The squadron actually returned on foot, their faces full of exhaustion and sadness.

What on earth did they go through?

When they returned to the main camp of the Ross Army, the people who gathered around them learned about the deadly storm that had occurred at sea.

The mission was of course accomplished, and some brothers were sacrificed for it, but the power of the ocean continued to destroy the entire fleet. If those large ships were not strong enough, the squadron would have been completely annihilated.

Arik, Jevlo and Grund returned to report their reports. After hearing their reports, Rurik was surprised but did not complain too much.

However, he still had to show his anger openly.

He did not call Arik his brother, but his first name.

"Arik, you have committed a grave crime! You are a master of navigation. No matter how bad the sea conditions are, hundreds of brothers will eventually die in the sea. Do you know this crime?"

Arik, who was already feeling guilty, had no intention of defending himself: "Indeed, I am guilty. All the brothers in the camp need an explanation, and I am willing to be punished."

Arik lowered his proud head in front of everyone, and his guilty attitude was obvious.

Hit with a stick? Got a whip? There is no need or reason.

The squadron did complete its mission, and unexpectedly killed an alarming number of Frankish wounded soldiers and even destroyed its granaries. The storm that killed hundreds of people at sea was an unexpected natural disaster, and Arik did not do the dangerous operation of "bracing through the typhoon", so it is unjustifiable to continue to punish him.

"Then kill the enemy bravely in the next battle. The dead brothers and their heroic spirits will also be satisfied with your actions. Therefore, you must make this promise to all the soldiers in the camp. You must fight bravely."

"So shall I."

Because the sleds dragged by more than 800 people who returned did contain a large number of Frankish weapons and helmets, and no one could ignore their achievements.

The Ross Army suffered heavy losses due to storms, something the Ross Army had not experienced in more than ten years.

The incident shocked the entire army, and everyone had to think again about whether sailing in the vast western ocean would always be safe. Who causes ocean storms? Apparently it was Jormungandr who did it. People believed it and the legend became extremely real.

But Rurik generally understood the reason. It is understandable that the North Atlantic becomes violent in winter. The Titanic also suddenly hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic in winter.

It is better not to sail in the North Atlantic in the next winter, even if sailing is close to the Dutch coast.

The squadron achieved amazing results and obtained important intelligence.

For this reason, Rurik happily took the three returning generals and held urgent discussions with the nobles.

It's still a high tower stone chamber, and the temperature seems to be colder than a few days ago.

The experience of the returning squadron soldiers has spread throughout the army. It is a fact that the soldiers once again destroyed the bridge between Bremen and the local area, destroying the Frankish army's logistics base and killing many enemies. They destroyed the enemy's army. granaries and snatched a large amount of food, which boosted the morale of the coalition forces.

Even though a large number of Saxons were drowned in the shipwreck, the surviving people captured a large amount of enemy food. They tried their best to transport part of the hamburgers on sleds, and then immediately reported the good news to Archduke Liudov, and the food they transported was immediately destroyed. For military rations.

After Liudov learned of this, he arranged for the horses he borrowed from the local lords to reach the mouth of the Elbe River as quickly as possible by horse-drawn sleigh. He wanted to bring back his share of the spoils of food and immediately use them as military rations to ensure that the army he organized could have enough meals.

The atmosphere in the stone room was very lively, and the optimism was as bright as fire.

Rurik was still the center of attention. He opened his arms to silence everyone, and immediately announced: "Apparently the rear granary of the Frank army has been destroyed. This is really an unexpected surprise. According to the intelligence obtained by my brother, the enemy of our coalition is Lu Derwig has no doubt that although his Frankish army is large in strength and has plenty of rations, it will not last long."

Rurik began to call Arik his brother again, and the latter was extremely happy.

"Indeed." Arik couldn't wait to speak. "The enemy's main force is hiding in the forest. Maybe they will flee and continue to attack. However, I think our army has a chance to take the initiative to attack."

"Of course we can take the initiative to attack, but that is not my intention. We need a decisive battle, and the location is on the glacier outside Hamburg. This is a decisive battle location that is beneficial to our army, otherwise we will not put all our efforts into making spikes. ”

"I'm afraid that Ludwig will be forced to evacuate due to logistical difficulties. Because the Weser River must also freeze, and the effect of destroying the bridge will be gone." Liudov sighed meaningfully.

"Then we can't let the enemy evacuate! We can't let them think about evacuating." Rurik continued.

"Do you have any new ideas?"

"There is one. My brother's suggestion is not impossible to implement. Of course, our army can take the initiative to find enemies and launch challenges. But the purpose of doing so is questionable."

"Are you trying to provoke them and force them to take the initiative to attack?" Liu Dofu poked his head, he had already guessed.

"That's true, and..." Rurik smiled maliciously. "I will use some tricks to make things difficult for Ludwig. I will also force them to take the initiative to attack."

"What is it?"

"I intend to free the Frankish prisoners."

"Prisoners?" Liudov thought for a while and couldn't understand the logic at all: "It's incredible, you still plan to release them? Aren't you planning to exchange them for ransom? Or even become slaves."

"They are a group of tools after all! I want to verify one thing now, what do these Frank prisoners mean to Ludwig. Are they his subjects? Or insignificant people? I will release some, such as a family, and I will Release the men and keep the women and children. Or release the women and keep the men. Our prisoners come from multiple villages and the prisoners know each other. In this way, we forcibly break them up. Some of them will continue to be controlled by our army, and some will be returned intact. Ludwig. What do you think the result will be?"

"How do I know? Your idea is very strange." Liudov shrugged, still not understanding the logic.

"Men cannot abandon their wives, and women cannot abandon their children and husbands. We release some people, and they will beg their king to save the hostages in Ludwig's camp."

"Is this so?!" Liu Duofu heard some clues and asked again: "What if he doesn't plan to save me?"

"Then, Ludwig's notoriety will spread, and many Franks will suspect that this prince is not a good person. I think that man will not abandon his creed."

What else could Liu Duofu say? He held back a sentence with an evil smile: "You... are really vicious."

"So the problem now is how to find their camp. I will send scouts to investigate as soon as possible. As for splitting up the prisoners, I will leave it to you."

Liu Doufu signaled to handle it immediately.

If after confirming the Frankish army's winter camp, they would pull some prisoners over and kill them in public to provoke Ludwig into starting a war, this would be a tactic to induce an immediate decisive battle.

However, this kind of trick is considered despicable in Viking society, and should not be used unless it is a confrontational situation.

This meeting actually made fine adjustments to the battle plan, and the revised plan began to be implemented immediately.

As for the Frankish prisoners, almost all of them were immigrants who moved to the Saxony region. They themselves were indeed robbing the Saxon people's traditional living space, because they believed in God. The local Saxons did not want a large number of captured women and children to be killed, so they could just expel them.

The coalition forces will not persecute these prisoners subjectively. They have great use value. In the past few months, some of the prisoners have inevitably died, but the vast majority are still alive and well.

They were pulled from the warehouse and gathered together as families by Saxon soldiers.

Many captives didn't know what was happening. They were standing outdoors in the cold in slovenly clothes and wearing simple shoes in the snow. Their families hugged each other to avoid the cold.

More than 1,800 prisoners survived, but if they continued to freeze outdoors, some more would die.

Liu Duofu then personally took care of the next thing. He took nearly a thousand soldiers selected according to his own principle of being a general, dressed up and well-equipped, and tightly surrounded this small open space in the city.

The prisoners in the encirclement thought that they were the doomsday generals, and the fear in their hearts made the cold feeling worse.

As a result, a man wearing polar bear skin walked out of the soldiers, and there was also an old man in black robe who personally carried a dark wooden cross.

Liudov borrowed a gorgeous outfit from Rurik, and in front of many nervous prisoners, he spoke arrogantly in Frankish.

"You! You are all prisoners! I am the Duke of Saxony and the Count of Westphalia! I am the unquestionable ruler of all Saxons, and you Franks are not welcome! But you did not die in battle, I I have no intention of executing you! Now your King Ludwig leads an army to attack our Principality of Saxony, and our country has to launch a counterattack. Listen! I am a descendant of Widukind, and you should understand what I mean."

Liudov did not need to explain anymore. After all, when Widukind was defeated and surrendered, a large number of Franks were ordered to move north and settle in the Saxony area. Some of the captives were elderly women, actually in their fifties, who had been part of that group of immigrants when they were young.

Everything was the revenge of the Saxons, and they did not hesitate to ally with the Normans for revenge. The prisoners basically knew this situation, and Liudov just repeated it again today.

"Some of you will be released. Ludwig's army is in the forest on the other side of the river. They have set up camp and your king is there. Listen carefully! Some of you will be released!" Now, obey me! All the children together, all the women together, all the men together! Quick!"

It's a good thing to be released, but what are the future arrangements?

Seeing that they were indifferent, Liudov immediately sent out soldiers to force the situation, causing the whole scene to howl like ghosts and wolf howls.

This made the northern saint Eskil extremely embarrassed. He came here carrying the cross today just to calm the hearts of these prisoners of war. Seeing the violent methods of the Saxon army, he had to remind Liudov to be gentler.

"Actually, all this is the conspiracy of that boy Rurik." Liudov whispered to Eskil, who was approaching.

"I understand. Rurik has been very good at conspiracy since he was ten years old. It's just that we have no choice now. These Franks are poor lambs. You must restrain your subordinates no matter what."

Liu Doufu nodded and immediately ordered his men not to be too rough when pulling people.

Finally, under the threat of sharp spearheads and sword blades, all the prisoners were divided into three parts.

First, young children can no longer be banished. They were too young and weak, and they could survive in a warm place if they stayed in Hamburg. If they were left to Ludwig, they would definitely not take good care of them, leading to meaningless deaths. Even if he chose war, deep down Liudov didn't want to live up to his reputation as a "child killer."

Secondly, it is men and women who really want to be exiled.

Without further detailed screening, Liudov ordered half of the women to be exiled and half of the men to be exiled.

This arrangement immediately caused an uproar, and the chaos was contained under the spearhead of the Saxon army.

Just seeing the depressed faces of the prisoners, Liudov realized that Rurik had been right.

Men are unwilling to fight with their wives, and women are unwilling to leave their husbands. Perhaps the exiled man and woman happened to be fathers, but their children were still in the city.

Parents will never give up their children, after all, this may be a farewell.

After the atmosphere stabilized, Liudov publicly ordered: "All the exiled people, I will send you back to your King Ludwig. You can tell him that we have set up a battlefield on the banks of the Elbe River and we are eager to A decisive battle that decides everything! You go and tell him! Of course the Frank army can escape! In that case, the remaining prisoners will be executed. You don’t want your family members to be executed, right? I don’t want to do it, but if it comes to that One step and you have killed your own relatives. Go and tell your king, your Frankish army. We Saxons are waiting in Hamburg on the Elbe."

If they really sent a messenger to declare a challenge, both Rurik and Liudov were worried that the messenger would be killed by the other party.

The messenger was replaced by a freed Frank, and both of them were relieved.

Of course, the exiled prisoners were not just messengers, they were a group of lobbyists, numbering as many as five hundred. Their presence will disrupt the morale of the opponent's army. If the enemy is in a dilemma, once these released prisoners arrive, the enemy will definitely have a unified thinking - they must strike hard at the despicable Saxon-Norman army. Even if there are difficulties, force them We must attack despite difficulties.

Liudov quickly completed the tasks assigned by Rurik, so the selected releaseees, who numbered more than 500 people, were specially rewarded with some tattered linen cloth to further keep out the cold, and were also given special meals before departure. cooked high-salt wheat. This was a good meal. After all, in order to prevent the prisoners from escaping during the capture period, both Rurik and Liudov basically gave the prisoners meager food that could only sustain life, just to prevent these people from having the strength to escape.

They had a hearty meal, a last supper.

On the other hand, the scouts sent out by Rurik also found the enemy's camp along the Roman road.

Because the scouts from both sides fought a miniature encounter in the snowy forest, one side was the Ross scouts sniping with crossbows, and the other side was the Frank archers shooting.

Both sides were skilled men and were both Orions. Both sides fought for a while, but each understood the other's basic movements.

Ludwig learned that the Elbe River was completely frozen, so that the enemy could run around on the ice, but Hamburg still had a large number of enemies and prepared for a decisive battle.

Scout Ross took advantage of the darkness to explore the Frankish army camp in the forest, and was shocked to notice that they had transformed as many as three abandoned villages into wooden fortresses, and even camped arrogantly on the Roman road.

The Frankish army did not flee far after their defeat. Firstly, they were beaten to the point of losing a certain amount of logistical supplies and suffered from exhaustion after the defeat. Secondly, their proud souls were extremely unwilling to be defeated.

The fact that they forcibly cut down trees in the forest to build three large walled camps surprised Rurik, and he felt that these people really had the capabilities of the Roman legions of the old days.

But this action also proves one thing - they are not willing to retreat.

However, the scouts' intelligence could not prove that the enemy would launch a decisive battle in a short time.

It’s December, and whether it’s Christmas for the Catholics or Hanukkah for the Vikings, the biggest holiday of the year is coming.

Maybe the Franks want to reorganize their troops and launch a fateful decisive battle before the festival?

At least Rurik is willing to win the decisive battle and offer a great gift to Odin.

In the colder month of December, after a period of preparation, the selected captives who had eaten sumptuous meals for many days began to be eaten by the last extremely sumptuous meal of boiled wheat that was rich in fat and salty. There were 200 people in the Ross-Saxony coalition urging them to step into the glacier.

The prisoners had their hands tied and ropes tied around their necks. They put on thick clothes, and a few selected people also hung wooden boards around their necks.

The wooden boards were marked in Frankish with a simple word: Decisive Battle.

The army escorted such a team to move. They set off from early in the morning until evening and finally approached the first large camp of the Frank army.

But before that, the escort troops had hurriedly evacuated, leaving behind a group of released prisoners at a loss.

But the Frank scouts who had been observing secretly had long been paying attention to this strange team, and the existence of the scouts was also discovered by the escorting troops.

A group of prisoners looked around for a while before encountering the scouts who appeared. After asking each other, the prisoners cried bitterly and told in Frankish the horrific abuse they had suffered.

What else could the scouts say? Someone pulled out a knife and immediately cut the prisoners' ropes, promising: "You are saved. Don't worry, the king will avenge you."